ne of the most popular attractions in Fairbanks is leaving the Wedgewood Resort. The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum has wowed locals and visitors since opening in 2009. The renowned collection of antique cars and vintage fashions was voted by Alaska Business readers as one of the best museums in the state in 2024, alongside the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Aviation Museum at Lake Hood. The museum has made its mark, and now it’s moving away from the nest of Fountainhead Development, the owners of the resort property in north Fairbanks.

In 2025, the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is moving across Chena River into the former Kmart building on Airport Way, now partially occupied by an Amazon fulfillment center. The new location will expand on the story of Alaska transportation through a partnership with the Interior and Arctic Alaska Aeronautical Foundation, operator of the Pioneer Air Museum currently located in the Gold Dome at Pioneer Park, a few blocks away from the merged museums’ new home.

“Our partnership with the Pioneer Air Museum will allow us to weave together the vibrant histories of aviation and the automobile in the Far North, presented in vivid detail with rare artifacts and captivating exhibits highlighting Alaska’s transportation pioneers,” says Tim Cerny, Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum founder and owner.

Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum showcases the evolution of automotive technology and cultural shifts of the twentieth century. “In our fifteen years of operation, we have continued to add significant vehicles to our collection as well as enlarging the fashion collection that dates back to the eighteenth century and continues through the post-World War II era,” explains Cerny. “The clothing tells the story of fashion and design over centuries.”

This “living museum” houses more than ninety-five pre-World War II automobiles, with sixty-five to seventy-five rare automobiles staged at all times. This expansive collection encompasses cyclecars, electric cars, horseless carriages, midget racers, speedsters, steamers, and ‘30s classics.

The fashion component of the museum started with just a few displays and is now considered the most extensive collection of vintage clothing in the Pacific Northwest. “It was so popular that we decided to expand it,” says Cerny. “My wife, Barbara, is in charge of the fashion component of the museum along with two ladies (both named Connie) who work with her. They focus on acquisition, staging, and building the story of fashion over decades.”

Most recently, the museum team has been working to acquire a group of vintage wax mannequins that were used for clothing displays from 1900 through the ‘30s. “Over the past five years, we’ve been able to purchase about twenty-four individual mannequins modeled after real people at the time they were used,” explains Cerny. “I supposed they would be considered the ‘influencers’ of their time, allowing their images to be used and incorporated into department store displays.”

The exhibits that have been a hit with visitors will tell a more complete story when blended with the Pioneer Air Museum. Cerny says, “We’re very excited about being able to enlarge the story and integrate aviation with the automotive industry and how it changed Alaska.”

Among the aviation treasures from the Pioneer Air Museum are the Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman Airplane and the remains of Ben Eielson’s plane. Eielson, who delivered the first air mail in Alaska in 1924, died five years later in a plane crash while flying supplies to a ship frozen in the Bering Sea. The new museum will bring such stories to life through displays and interactive exhibits.

“Nowhere in the continental United States did the airplane play such a significant historical role as it did in Alaska,” says Richard Wien, son of Eielson’s contemporary Noel Wien and a legendary bush pilot himself. “I think it is so exciting that Tim Cerny has agreed to include Alaskan aviation history along with his world-class auto museum. With the new location, I’m sure it will become a must-see for visitors and historians.”

The conversation of the possibilities of moving to a new location and blending both museums began during the COVID-19 pandemic, in anticipation of tourism returning to normal. Both organizations were looking forward to something bigger and better.

Cerny says, “The new Fountainhead Transportation Museum will provide exhibit and storage space for over 135 vintage automobiles, several rare airplanes, thousands of vintage fashions, and other rare artifacts. We are very pleased to partner with individuals who work and support the aviation museum and are excited to participate in telling the Alaska transportation story.”

“I am extremely excited about the future of this museum,” says Eric Johansen, president of the board of the Pioneer Air Museum. “The museum will be a must-visit for residents and visitors alike, who will come away with a real appreciation of the many obstacles overcome by Alaska’s early aviation pioneers.”

Cerny’s company, Fountainhead Development, has been working with Design Alaska to create 90,000 square feet of exhibit space, a restoration area, climate-controlled artifact storage, a gift shop, a reception area for groups, and a catering kitchen.

“The new space will also offer more audio/visual experiences,” shares Karen Wilken, marketing and public relations manager for Fountainhead Development. “With the added space, we will be able to have more interactive exhibits that tell the gritty stories of our pioneers who paved the way for transportation in Alaska.”

As both the automobile and vintage fashion collections continue to grow, Cerny is looking forward to more display space in the old Kmart building. “The new space has 90,000 square feet of floor area in contrast to our existing 30,000 square feet. Currently, we can display up to 85 vehicles from our collection of about 130 vehicles, which requires quite a bit of stock rotation. The new location will give us the space to tell an expanded story of technological development and design elements in the vehicles.”

The museum also vividly details Alaska’s rich and colorful auto and transportation history. Its walls display 100 historic motoring photographs illustrating the state’s unique transportation challenges, including the navigation of glacial streams, avalanche chutes, and extremely deep snow.

Cerny says, “We have a great team moving forward, which includes our outstanding docents and our historian, Nancy Dewitt, who wrote three books on transportation in Alaska. She will be back on staff working with us to help develop the integration of the aviation industry.”

Moving delicate aircraft into the new museum requires significant expertise. TOTE Maritime Alaska and the Alaska Railroad recently donated shipping services for two additional historic Alaska airplanes that are being moved from Spokane, Washington to Fairbanks.

In preparation for the move from Wedgewood Resort to the new location on Airport Way, the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum will remain open through the tourist season, with the expectation of the last of the larger tour groups concluding the last week of September.

“We will start moving and assembling some of the airplanes in the summer of 2025,” says Cerny. “As for the vehicles, since we are a living museum, the majority of our vehicles are in running condition, and we take them out driving every summer.”

Thus, the relocation provides a rare opportunity for an open-air mobile exhibit. Cerny says, “For the transfer, we’ll have several parades of antique cars driving through Fairbanks as we move from the existing museum to the new space.”

The current museum space at Wedgewood Resort will be converted into a convention center and event space. “We’ve been advocating for a convention center for the better part of two decades,” says Scott McCrea, president and CEO of Explore Fairbanks. “We felt like a convention center was the missing asset to a solid tourism industry here in Fairbanks. Now, with the current location of Fountainhead Auto Museum at Wedgewood Resort being converted to a conference and event space and the recent opening of the 8 Star Events Center space, we will have more options to offer groups.”

As a vibrant year-round destination, Fairbanks tourism stands to benefit from the additional space for meetings. “The economic impact of meetings and conventions can be pretty significant for a community,” explains McCrea. “We’ve seen what it does in terms of economic contributions to hotels, restaurants, and shopping venues.”

McCrea also expects to benefit from the potential for meetings and conventions in the community’s shoulder seasons. He says, “We have solid summer and winter seasons for tourism, but with this new space, attracting meetings and conferences during the shoulder months like April and October will add a significant economic impact.”

The Explore Fairbanks team is also excited to witness the union of the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and the Pioneer Aviation Museum. “The Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is a gem within our local tourism industry. People who go there are just in awe of its collection,” shares McCrea. “With aviation being so critical to our history and growth as a state, we think this will be an extremely successful union.”